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Diocese of Scranton
Will Observe Respect Life Sunday With Rose
Mass; Other Special Liturgies During the Year Will
Also Focus on Sanctity of All Life
Discussing
this year’s Rose Mass are, seated
from left:Rosemary Gallagher,
chairperson, Adoption: A Choice fo
rLife Committee; David Clarke,
Diocesan Director of Social
Concerns; and Father William
Pickard, Prison Ministry. Standing:
Eleanor Petrucci, Birthright; Sister
Maryla Farfour, I.H.M., moderator,
Christian Life Community of
Bishop
Hannan
High School
;
Susan Cirba, Pennsylvanians for
Human Life,
Scranton
Chapter; Kelly Corbett,officer,
Bishop Hannan Christian Life
Community; and Helen Gohsler, PHL
Scranton Chapter president.
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The Diocese of Scranton will observe Respect
Life Sunday with the celebration of the
annual Rose Mass on Sunday, Oct. 2, at
10 a.m.
in St. Peter’s Cathedral,
Scranton
.
The public is invited to attend. The Mass will also air
live on CTV: Catholic Television.
Most Rev. John M. Dougherty, D.D., V.G.,
Auxiliary Bishop of
Scranton
, will be the principal celebrant and
homilist. Students from area Catholic high
schools and religious education programs
will serve in various ministry roles.
The Rose Mass highlights the Catholic Church’s respect
for the sanctity and dignity of life from
conception to natural death. It celebrates
the life of |
the unborn, persons with
disabilities, the deaf, the ill, and those
in the last stages of earthly life.
It
reminds us of the alternatives to abortion
by honoring those who have chosen adoption.
The liturgy is also offered for victims of
abortion, euthanasia and the death penalty.
The Mass will provide an opportunity
to raise awareness about issues
which the Church vigorously opposes
including embryonic stem cell
research, abortion, capital
punishment, and euthanasia.
Most Rev. Joseph F. Martino, D.D.,
Hist. E.D., Bishop of Scranton, asks
all faithful in the Diocese to pray
a decade of the Rosary each day from
Sept. 29 up to Respect Life Sunday.
The Bishop also
announced that several other special
Masses traditionally celebrated at
various times of the year will now
serve to emphasize specific
commitment to the sacredness of
human life.
The annual liturgy
honoring adoption that was held on
Mother’s Day will now be part of
the Oct. 2nd Rose Mass to highlight
the fact that adoption is one of the
concrete steps that can be taken to
foster the culture of life. A Mass
for Catholic Health Care Workers
(formerly the Nurses Mass) will be
celebrated on Sunday, April 30, 2006
. The Red Mass for those in the
legal profession will be celebrated
on Sunday, May 7, 2006.
Bishop Martino has
encouraged the men and women of
these professions and all the
faithful to pray a nine-day novena
prior to each liturgy to ask God to
give grace to these professionals as
they witness to the Gospel of Life
in their everyday work.
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